{"id":4159,"date":"2017-04-13T05:00:09","date_gmt":"2017-04-13T12:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=4159"},"modified":"2017-04-09T14:28:09","modified_gmt":"2017-04-09T21:28:09","slug":"mark-reads-the-fifth-elephant-part-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2017\/04\/mark-reads-the-fifth-elephant-part-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘The Fifth Elephant’: Part 8"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the eighth part of The Fifth Elephant<\/i>, I was wrong YET AGAIN. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld<\/i>.<\/p>\n

I WAS NOT READY FOR TWO PLOT TWISTS IN ONE PART. HELP ME.<\/p>\n

Angua<\/b><\/p>\n

Look, at least I was slightly in the realm of correct when it came to what Angua was doing because I assumed that she had left Ankh-Morpork to deal with family stuff. I was utterly wrong, though, about who she was traveling with.<\/p>\n

First, though, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just appreciate that Carrot thought he was chasing down Angua when she knew where he was because he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d made the mistake of garnering the attention of the wolves. Carrot is a smart person, but sometimes, he is Not So Smart at all. The dude would have frozen to death without Angua and the wolves, right??? Or he would have starved. Or run himself ragged! HE MADE A LOT OF BAD DECISIONS, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL. Out of love, of course, and I got the sense that Angua appreciated that on some level, especially when she found out that he quit his job to go find her.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Carrot is in over his head. I AM IN OVER MY HEAD. Wolves and werewolves historically do not get along because wolves know <\/i>who is a real wolf and who is not. Thus, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fascinating to me that Pratchett has introduced a wolf who is a friend of Angua and fiercely<\/i> so. Gavin (I LOVE SO DEEPLY THAT THIS IS HIS ACCEPTED NAME)\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/i> adopted Angua? Welcomed him into his life? Their relationship is only defined by the very short tale that Angua gives us about Gavin rescuing her from some other wolves, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to explain it any further. But there are context clues ALL OVER this story. Not only did Gavin rescue her years earlier, but he also risked his life to travel to Ankh-Morpork to get her to come back home. Why?<\/p>\n

Because Angua\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s family is gonna do something FUCKED UP. We already got a hint of that, but Pratchett is once again vague about what this means. By doing this, though, he captures my interest. I desperately want to know what it is that is so bad<\/i> that a wolf came and RETRIEVED ANGUA.<\/p>\n

The Currency of Reputation<\/b><\/p>\n

There are so many great pairings in this book, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got Carrot and Gaspode; there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Angua and Gavin now; and let me also praise the electrifying tension between Skimmer and Vimes. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re thin ice in these pages, and Pratchett does this thing with them where I never know if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to agree with one another or if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to fight to the death. There are few people Vimes likes less<\/i> than assassins, and now he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s stuck with an assassin pretending to be Vetinari\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clerk WHO IS ALSO A REALLY GOOD CLERK AND TRANSLATOR. (Which is clearly frustrating to Vimes anyway<\/i>.) I can recognize that after Vimes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s disastrous run-in with the dwarfs, Vetinari was very smart to stick Skimmer with him. How on Earth would Vimes have gotten past them? In his party, he has a dwarf wearing women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clothing and a troll. HE WAS GOING TO LOSE JUST BY DEFAULT.<\/p>\n

Yet I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m also curious to see if the reputation Vimes has gained is going to help him. Because seriously, this is A Lot:<\/p>\n

He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d staggered in, covered in blood and mud, carrying a crossbow and, d\u00e2\u20ac\u2122you know, when they went back to look there were seven<\/i> dead men. By the time that sort of story had gone ten miles he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be carrying an ax as well, and make that thirty dead men and a dog.<\/p>\n

VIMES: Ankh-Morpork diplomat and MAYHEM MURDERER. Hey, maybe some good will come of it!<\/p>\n

Acting Captain Colon<\/b><\/p>\n

I CAN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T BELIEVE IT EXCEPT I CAN BELIEVE IT AND I AM SO FUCKING THRILLED BY THIS HUGE PLOT TWIST BECAUSE NOBBY IS NOW THE PRESIDENT OF THE GUILD OF WATCHMEN AND THE WATCH IS ON STRIKE AND THIS ENTIRE TWIST HAS GIVEN ME SO MUCH LIFE WHY MUST I END ON THIS SECTION THIS WEEK HELP ME<\/b><\/p>\n

ahem. sorry. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m very excited, I think.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/youtu.be\/LsvtIDyXAgM<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

-\u00c2\u00a0In the very near future, these are going away. Please visit my new site that will act as a portal for all announcements<\/a>. If you’d rather not have to rely on checking a website regularly, sign up for my newsletter instead<\/a>! This will cover all news for Mark Reads, Mark Watches, and Mark’s fiction career.\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"